AP: Dominic Storey Bira Sunday notes

ANOTHER STRONG SHOWING FOR STOREY

Young New Zealand racing driver Dominic Storey enjoyed another strong showing at the latest round of the 2006 Formula BMW Asia Championship in Thailand over the weekend, with a fourth in the first race and third in the final.

Having been laid low by a bout of food poisoning at the most recent round of the 2006 series in Indonesia in July, the 16-year-old from Auckland was eager to build on the promise he showed in Beijing in June.

Build on it he did too, setting the fifth fastest lap time in qualifying then getting the better of experiened Malaysian driver Aaron Lim to claim fourth place in the first race.

In the second race he ran as high as third before succumbing to the slick track surface and spinning off, then in the final he got up to second palce before Lim returned the favour and he crossed the line in third place.

Storey remains sixth overall in the overall points standings after his weekend's efforts behind Abay, Bamber, Ricciardo, Grunwall and Lim, and fourth in the Rookie standings behind Bamber, Ricciardo and Grunwall.

Australian driver Sam Abay continues to lead the championship points standings after 14 of the 19 races of the 2006 series but Storey's compatriot Earl Bamber narrowed the gap to him over the weekend after qualifying on pole and going 2-4-1 in the races.

It was Western Australian Daniel Ricciardo who was the big mover over the weekend however, beating pole man Bamber to the finishing line in the first race and Malaysian driver Aaron Lim Say Joon and Abay in the second.

Bamber bounced back - after spinning in the second race - to win the third, a race Ricciardo had been leading from pole until he too fell victim to the slippery track and spun.

And where was Sam Abay?

He set the third fastest lap time in qualifying then ran 3-3-8 in the races.

Highly rated local James Grunwall also had a less than stellar weekend, qualifying sixth fastest then running 8-6-6 in the races.

There is now a break of three weekends before Rnds 15 & 16 are contested at Shanghai

-credit: fast company